Parents everywhere are seeing a trend with their children that is getting completely out of hand—electronic overload. Between video games, iPods, laptops, smartphones, and endless texting back and forth to friends, our kids are getting away from activities that stimulate both their brains and their bodies.

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There is nothing wrong with allowing kids time to indulge in electronics. It is the digital age, after all. But electronic moderation is key and we as parents have to encourage kids to rouse their brains and their bodies on a daily basis as well.

Today I am going to share 7 tips with you that will help keep your children’s brains sharp and agile. These tips don’t require any fancy gimmicks or expensive gadgets. Instead, we can utilize things that are available to us on a daily basis:

Tip #1: Read Everything and Anything

One of the best gifts we can give to hungry brains is knowledge. Reading is still one of the most effective ways for learning new things. While chapter books are certainly wonderful, you can also give your children a variety of other materials to read such as cookbooks, nutritional labels, newspapers, magazines, menus, travel itineraries, and movie schedules. Then test their understanding by having them summarize what they read. Let them read aloud to you, to their siblings, to neighbors, and to grandparents as often as possible. By interacting with them after they have read something, you are engaging them to think, respond, and get creative.